Finally, I found a few moments between feeling like something the dog yarked up, carting my youngest to the doctor, and working. I'm trying really hard to get back into the swing of posting more often. Slowly but surely. So, without further ado:C is for... Cattywhompered - I believe Joshilyn first coined this term (at least the first time I saw it) and I fell in total hot pink love with it. It's only one of the very best words used to describe anything from being tired to some manner of attack. It's caught on like summer wildfire in our house.Close - Two definitions, so opposite of each other - wanting to be near or shutting the door. I think I reside right in the middle of the two, a playground teeter-totter leaning first one way, then the other.Canter - A divine gait if executed properly. Way back when, I owned a horse whose canter felt like sitting in a rocking chair... when he was together and on the ball. When he wasn't... well, he didn't earn the nickname Jiminy Cricket for being my guiding conscience. Boing! Boing! Ouch.Choices - not a very good word for me. I'm an indecisive person by nature and it's thrust into overdrive when handed too many choices. Chocolate or vanilla... What, no Amaretto? Or Caramel? Or Chocolate swirled with Amaretto or Caramel? How about Vanilla Chai Spice? I can't decide! Restaurants are always fun. I'd like the ability to have bites of everything on the menu. I adore Chinese buffets (good ones!). They cater to my indecision. Otherwise, I talk everyone else at the table into ordering a bit of everything and then sharing. Heh.Cremate - I've insisted upon cremation when it's my time to go. The mere idea of worms using my body for... Ewww. NO.Coffee - an Ode to Coffee. How I love those glorious drops of sustenance from heaven, full of caffeine loveliness. They give me my Go, Go, Go or my 10... 9... 8... countdown to calm. It makes me manageable in the morning, gives me a calming break in the afternoon, and there's nothing like an after dinner cuppa to aid the digestion (thought it'd better be Decaf then or I'm up 'til the wee hours). The aroma draws my shoulders down from their neck squenching stress perch and whisks away the faerie dust from my early morning brain. Jamaican Blue Mountain velvety smoothness on the tongue, sharp Italian Espresso with a power kick, Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino for those fun moments, Amaretto Mocha Latte for a calm respite from the world. I do not care for chocolate covered espresso beans, though. Go figure.Cranky - me, without coffee or enough sleep. At those times, I'm better known as Mistress Cranky Pants. Mr. Clean is known for muttering, "Oh dog, she's wearing the cranky pants like a thong today."Crack - Sneaky segue. I have to leap upon my soapbox for just a moment (careful that I don't fall off and jack up another ankle as I'm famous for doing so often). I just don't understand the beauty of showing one's butt crack. Aren't pants made to cover things like that? Trips to the mall with Doodlebug are becoming increasingly difficult. I spend more time steering his 8 yr. old eyes away from window shopping all the teen cracks on display than I do on getting any actual shopping accomplished. The sad part is that I'm not a prude (honestly, quite the opposite). But I don't get it - why so many teenage girls have plumbing aspirations. Crack is the new cleavage? DFBC? (a very naughty acronym which I will not expand upon. If you know it, you know it. 'Nuff said.)Crap - a word I use quite often. Oh crap. Look! There's crap everywhere. I haven't yet found a "crap" equivilent that I enjoy but I'm looking.Chore Menu - my answer to encouraging child labor.Chamomile - a cure-all I swear by. My Mema used to give us kids hot Chamomile tea, sweetened with honey, for tummy aches, headaches, colds, insomnia, you name it. It always worked. I'm never without a box of it in my tea cabinet. Years later, my spawnlings routinely ask for it when they don't feel well or can't sleep.Clomp - the sound of a child's feet when used as a focus for dramatic representation of disappointment, frustration, and/or anger. Sometimes used as a catalyst to induce Sibling McBickerstorms. I believe it's genetic as I recall much clomping of my own. Pssst. Mr. Clean is still known to exhibit an occasional clomp of his own.Call - I have a true aversion to phones - interesting, considering I listed my cell phone as an Essential Electronic on the ABCs of Me post. Heh. The fact is, I am bad, bad, bad about calling people and sometimes worse at answering calls. I stink at it. Cold calls freak me out. Business calls are unpleasant. BUT. If you manage to get me on the phone, I'll chat your ear off for hours.Chatterbox - Me. I can talk and talk and talk. My spawnlings have gained my penchant for the chat. I have received calls from the grandparents and my sisters when my spawnlings are visiting them, asking, "Do they ever shut up?" No, they do not. Just the other day, Mr. Clean and I marveled at the constant stream of vocalizations wafting up from the back seat where Doodlebug leaned casually against his armrest. He talked non-stop for almost 12 hours straight, only offering brief moments of silence while he read a few more pages from his book (and considered what the next topic would be). And while he chatted, we learned that he'd like to be a doctor when he grows up - because there are Many nurses in this world who are just waiting for a nice looking Doctor Man to be there for them. My Casanova in the making.Chilly Willy - remember him? Or am I just aging myself now... Cat - I have one, a tortoiseshell with a psychotic streak and a broken meow. She seems to derive cruel enjoyment in proving she's an even better house guard than our dogs. We are forced to inform all visitors of the Kitty Danger. We know she looks cute. We know she's rubbing on your leg and sitting up to beg for petting. Trust us. She will eat your hand off as soon as you reach out to her. Christmas - my second favorite holiday of the year. I love the crisp air of the season, the myriad of smells, and the chance to shower people with gifts.Chocolate - Yum. My favorite is 70% Lindt - so bitter and smooth on the tongue. Then there's hot cocoa made from scratch. I have my own recipe that Mr. Clean and the spawnlings go nuts for. I make a killer chocolate mousse with Tia Maria and Frangelica liqueurs.Creative - I try to do something creative every day, whether it be working on my WIP or coloring with Doodlebug. The days I'm unable to be creatively productive, I find I'm tired and whiney.Cherry - my favorite fruit. I have a jar of cherries soaking in Maker's Mark bourbon, just waiting for the perfect recipe. My favorite fun dessert is cheesecake tarts with cherry pie filling on top.Champagne - not a fan. It always gives me a headache for some reason.Candle - I'm a candle-hound. Right now, my living room has 12 votives, 3 pillars on the table, 2 larger ones on black iron floor stands, and 3 candelabras sporting a total of 6 tapers and 4 ball candles. My office, a little bare just now, only has 1 votive, 2 pillars, and 1 of those soapstone burners where you melt wax or heat oil in the top, using tea lights in the bottom portion. I order votives from Yankee Candle Co. in boxes of 18. Current scents - Home Sweet Home and Tropical Vanilla.Carpe Diem - something I should remember more often.Check - I'm a list girl - probably why I get so darn excited about these Wordplay posts; they're great lists! I don't usually check things off (I scratch them out) but the word makes me think of lists all the same.Carousel - you know the years are catching up with you when riding on a carousel makes you want to hurl.Catch - playing catch with Doodlebug is a higlight - much more so when he stops pounding ground balls at my bare feet or zingers at my head. Aim for the chest, buddy. The chest!Calm - Hah! I try. Things that calm me considerably: coffee, candles, the ocean at night, gentle rainshowers - really, any water sounds (funny since I'm such an earth person, zodiac wise). Also... having my hair brushed, back rubs, back tickles, warm hugs, long chats with friends, and always - music.Celtic - I love all things Celtic, especially the art of knotwork. My favorite Celtic music: Loreena McKennitt and a soundtrack CD I picked up in Scotland, called The Legend of Loch Lomond. It has a beautiful rendition of the song Loch Lomond on it.Cab - I have ridden in exactly one cab so far, this life. I find that a little weird for some reason. It was in another country, even.Caribbean - Jamaica. Wonderfully relaxing country whose people have such a tough spirit. What an eye-opening journey and a newfound appreciation for the things we have. Bob Marley - addictive music. Appleton Estates Rum. Blue Mountain coffee. Jerk seasoning! Cynical - no matter how optimistic I try to be, I can never seem to shed my outer cynical skin. I honestly believe that everything will always work out just the way it ought to but the idea that it usually won't be the way I want it to has a permanent space in the back of my mind. Occasionally my cynicism overrides my optimism. It's not pretty.Crash - one of my all-time favorite songs by Dave Matthews.